Aamonte Hadley, 22, died in San Francisco County Jail #2 on September 3, 2024 — nearly two years into pretrial detention, never convicted of anything — from an accidental overdose of methadone and oxycodone. Her family has filed a civil lawsuit against the city. How controlled substances reached her locked cell has never been publicly explained.

The death of Hadley, one half of a couple who carried out a brazen monthlong Bay Area robbery spree in 2022, has become a focal point for critics of DA Brooke Jenkins' approach to pretrial detention and mental health diversion — and a test case for whether San Francisco's jail oversight systems function at all.

The black rims of a Ford Explorer came to a halt on Sutter Street in Nob Hill, blocks from Grace Cathedral, just after 10 p.m. on August 6, 2022. Two masked figures jumped out. One pressed a Polymer 80 pistol on two women on the sidewalk and demanded their bags. One victim, Rana Kiziltenek, a Turkish national, surrendered a purse containing passports and cash. Three hours later, the same SUV held up four men in San Jose, then fired a shot at a vehicle that gave chase, according to court records reviewed by the San Francisco Standard.

It was the opening night of a monthlong robbery spree that would cross three counties and draw four law enforcement agencies. Behind it were two women — Nicole Holmes, a 35-year-old mother of four from Fairfield, and Aamonte Hadley, a 20-year-old from East Oakland who had no prior criminal record — caught in what the Standard described as "a volatile love affair."

On August 16, the pair drove from Holmes' Fairfield home to Richmond, where they approached David Medina at an ATM. When he refused, Hadley fired a shot at him, per court records cited by the Standard. They robbed three more people in Richmond that night, then crossed the Bay Bridge into San Francisco and committed five more holdups. On August 27 and 28, they returned to the Fillmore corridor and robbed seven more people, including a woman who lost a Prada purse, a Gucci wallet, and an iPhone. SFPD stopped the Ford Explorer on August 31, KTVU reported. The San Francisco District Attorney's Office announced felony robbery, conspiracy, and firearms charges against both women; stolen property was recovered under search warrants at their homes, the DA's office said.

Holmes ultimately pleaded guilty and is serving a multi-year state prison sentence, Hoodline reported in July 2026. Hadley never stood trial.

She spent 23 months in pretrial custody at San Francisco County Jail #2. During that time, her attorney Richard Shikman and her family repeatedly petitioned the court to place her in a mental health diversion program. Every request was denied. "We tried mightily for practically two years to get her mental health diversion, but it fell almost on deaf ears," Shikman told KQED. "She was calling out, begging for treatment, but they denied it."

DA Brooke Jenkins defended her office in a written statement: "Ms. Hadley was charged with serious crimes, which were held to answer by the court. She was detained pretrial because of the public safety risk she posed. The court denied defense counsel's numerous requests for mental health diversion because it was not warranted in this case." Jenkins also suggested the tragedy "may have been avoided" had the defense "prepared to settle or go to trial sooner" — a remark that drew immediate condemnation at a rally outside the Women's Jail on September 17, 2024.

Public Defender Mano Raju, speaking at that rally, was direct: "Those decisions matter when a district attorney or the courts make a decision to not let someone go to mental health diversion to get the treatment they need to move their life in a proper direction. The consequences are devastating in so many ways."

Two months after Hadley's death, the Medical Examiner's Office confirmed to CBS Bay Area that she died from the toxic effects of methadone and oxycodone — an accidental overdose. How those controlled substances entered a locked county jail cell has not been publicly explained. Three parallel investigations — by the SF Department of Police Accountability, the Medical Examiner's Office, and the Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigations Unit — have not issued public findings.

Hadley's family has filed a civil lawsuit against the City and County of San Francisco. Shikman, who also represents the family in that suit, framed the case broadly to the Standard: "This case is about the trauma suffered by two tormented souls and their mental pathologies that brought them together and provided the underpinnings of their robbery spree."

Hadley's mother, Adimika Blockman, told KQED she had received nothing from city officials. "Nothing, nothing. They didn't tell me anything. I still don't know," she said at the September 2024 rally. At a candlelight vigil two months later, Hadley's aunt Keisha Hadley told CBS Bay Area: "We're trying to pick up the pieces but there are no pieces to pick up."

Hadley would have turned 23 on Thanksgiving Day 2024. The lawsuit against the city remains active. The three investigations have issued no public conclusions.